Listening To Music While Writing An Essay

Do you listen to music while writing an essay?

Hello! I am wondeering how many per cent of students listen to music while writing a home assignment?Do you?

posted about 5 years ago

I try to mix it up, so when I get bored will listen to music for abit. Although generally think I concentrate better with no music.

posted about 5 years ago

Instrumental music works well for me to focus on what I need to do.

posted about 5 years ago

Try not to listen to songs with vocals, and if there are vocals, keep them incredibly simple. Personally I like both vocals and non-vocals when I write. But It is not a good habit

posted about 5 years ago

Hi there!Actually there's no exact anser or the only proper opinion.Some people do not like noisy music while others hate ambient.This is why there's no perfect advice.Here's a website, where you can choose a study playlist according to your mood and preferences.

http://c-h-i-ll.com/

All you have to do is to choose proper tags and start working with better flow.Hope, that will help you.

posted 25-Jan-14, 22:26

edited about 5 seconds later

by Wasabi65

posted about 4 years ago

I am easily distracted so usually I don't have music when I really need to concentrate. However, there are times when I am writing up something that I need to have some music playing. I recently wrote up a large report over several days and worked through Wagner's Ring Cycle. I used the acts of the operas to indicate breaks (each act is approximately 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes).I like to listen to Beethoven's 9 symphonies when reading (40 minutes to an hour each).

posted 26-Jan-14, 23:06

edited about 24 seconds later

by lemonjuice

posted about 4 years ago

I don't usually, but if I do then it's classical music lol :)

posted 29-Jan-14, 09:03

edited about 3 seconds later

by AnnyIngram

posted about 4 years ago

Yes, I would like to listen music while i am writing my lesson or essay. I can make good concentration with listen music.

posted 29-Jan-14, 16:00

edited about 19 seconds later

by CiaraM

posted about 4 years ago

I used to use music during exam time at undergraduate level as a study aid. For example, if I was studying for a history-style module, I listened to 'Coldplay' and in the exam, humming their songs would help me remember what I had been revising. So listening to music always helps me study!

posted about 4 years ago

Instrumental music. I was told by a disabilities advisor that t can help with music. I do find it helps when typing. AND remember to take lots of breaks and have some nice herbal teas or something to hydrate you

posted 30-Jan-14, 13:48

edited about 14 seconds later

posted about 4 years ago

All the time, I play my last.fm radio stream at work, and when writing I compile a list of albums. I find post-rock, minimal-techno and minimal-house works for me. It's a matter of personal preference.

29308

Click here to post a reply

I am sure many of us have tried studying while listening to music, and I am sure some loved it and some haven't tried it again. Mostly, the idea around listening to music while studying seems to be one of personal preference, as individuals have their own study habits. For those who prefer silence, they claim music is distracting, and for those who enjoy headphones, they claim music is stimulating. I fall into the prior category, although a very close friend of mine falls into the latter. Granted, I have always felt there must be an explanation for both.

While browsing online, I came across an article published by CNN that was both enlightening and unbiased. Essentially, there seems to be two types of tasks that students would engage in when doing work. The first would be studying, committing formulas, history dates, or artist names to memory before exams. The other work would be more of homework type tasks, repetitive assignments that simply require completion. The distinction, according to what I read, seems to be crucial in determining weather or not to listen to music.

According to a study at the University of Wales Institute in Cardiff, United Kingdom, researchers looked at participant's capacity to memorize information while listening to an array of sounds. Told to memorize a list of letters in order, the students were tested after studying in complete silence, music they liked, and music they didn't like, among other sounds. As stated in the CNN article, "The study found that participants performed worst while listening to music, regardless of whether they liked that music" and "they did the best in the quiet" or completely silent environment.

The authors of the study, Nick Perham and Joanne Vizard, believe that the music impairs the cognitive abilities in these scenarios because when individuals are trying to memorize data they are thrown off by the changing words and notes within the music. Accordingly, it would seem harmful to listen to music while committing information to memory before an exam.

Although, the authors of the study also noted that, as stated in the article, "when you hear something you like, it heightens your arousal and mood, which improves performance", which may be the reason that many individuals find benefits of listening to music when doing tasks that don't require memorization. The engagement of the changing notes may keep the brain stimulated and allow individuals to continue a task for longer periods of time. Weather it's cleaning ones room, or repeating the same math problem tediously, the music can provide added pleasure to seemingly mundane events.

So next time you have an exam coming up, perhaps only listen to music before you start studying to increase your cognitive abilities; but to listen to music during studying, well, seems ill advised. As for those tedious homework assignments, music could prove to be beneficial, helping to pass time and maintain engagement into the task.

Except, these findings do not discredit anyone's personal experiences, which are ultimately the best evidence in forming ones own study habits. I am curious, what methods seem to work for you? What are your experiences with listening to music while performing such tasks?